"...to seek and to find the past, a lineage, a history, a family built on a flesh and bone foundation."

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Sepia Saturday #165: My own 'Who-ville'

In July of 2012, I began a short lived series entitled 'Who's that girl? Who's that guy? Who's that baby? Wednesday'. Along with the photo or photos posted I added the appropriate girl/guy/baby question, depending on the gender or age of the person in the image. I was hoping the outcome of those posts might be that I would learn the identity of the individuals in the photographs.

Many of us have old photographs that feature persons whom we cannot identify. Sometimes members of our family are in the photographs as well, and we may or may not be able to name them. Often the unknowns in the images are friends of our family members.

When I visited family members in Ireland in September, I was able to learn the answer to a couple of my 'Who's that..?' questions, but for the most part the faces looking out of these images remain nameless. Somewhat deflated, I set aside the photos and abandoned the series.

So...

When Alan posted a photograph of an unidentified family as the inspiration for Sepia Saturday #165, I was delighted. Here is another chance, I thought, to put out these images and find out just who the heck these people are. With the photos posted here I have noted the side of the family tree to which they are probably connected. As I perused the photos bearing my 'unknowns', I realized that even if I never know the answers to all of my 'Who's that?' questions, it's still fun to look at the images and ponder who the people pictured might be.

Be sure to visit Alan and Kat's blog Sepia Saturday to connect with lots of other bloggers who are participating, and maybe you'll feel inspired to join in too.

With apologies to the late great Dr. Seuss, here is my contribution, my own 'Who-ville':

This rather corpulent lady is unknown to me. She is not a member of my family, or even a neighbour.
According to a note on the back of the photo she is holding 'Paddy's baby',
but Paddy who? The only thing family members recognized in this pic is the background.
(Maternal tree, circa 1940s)

Ah yes, two lovely couples, don't you agree? One or perhaps even both of them just got hitched.
Is this the image of a double wedding? Maybe. I don't know, and I have absolutely
no idea who these couples are. Friends of the family perhaps? The only thing recognized in
this photo is the background. Those houses are directly across the street from
St. Patrick's Church, Ringsend, the church in which my parents were married. (Maternal tree, 1940s)

We do know the identity of one person in this double exposed photo.
My mom Mary is the lady seated on the grass. The odd thing is Mom had no idea of
the identity of the other two people in the image.
(Maternal tree, late 1940s or early 1950s)

This photo was taken in the back garden of my mom's childhood home in Dublin. Three people in the photo
have been identified. The elderly gentleman on the left is my maternal grandfather Patrick Ball, my Aunt Kate
is the woman with her hands on the shoulders of the taller of the two boys, and my Uncle Gerard is the man
in the back row, right hand side, smiling and leaning forward. Everyone else is unidentified.
(Maternal tree, 1950s)

Looks like this group was attending a fun event, especially with those wacky hats,
although some of the partiers look rather sombre. Only three of the eleven pictured here are named.
My mom Mary, aged 18, is second from left, seated on the floor. Mom's sister Bernadette, aged 20, is second from left standing,
and the man on the far left is their cousin Seamus Barnwell. All the other partiers are unknown.
(Maternal tree, 1949)

Okay Geraghty family members, please help me out here.
You will recognize John Geraghty on the left and Enda Geraghty on the right, but who
are the women with whom they have linked arms? Also, who is the little girl with the great
big bow in her hair? I think the adult women may be Magees, but don't know for sure, and
I believe the little girl may be John and Enda's youngest sister Kathleen, or else another Magee.
Any thoughts?
(Paternal tree, 1940s)

Thanks for your comments. It's nice to hear from you. I forgot to include one detail, the note on the back of the photo says 'Olympia Ballroom', a Dublin ballroom my parents went to quite often when they were young.

Thanks for your comments. I think at least one of the couples is getting married, since they are climbing into the wedding car with the traditional good luck horseshoe on the back. Double exposed photos are strange aren't they? Graduating in a dog pen? Oh dear.

An interesting set of photos. I rather like the corpulent lady with Paddy's baby; she's what we would call 'a real character'.

By the way, I wonder if you know that you have word verfication switched on (sometimes bloggers are unaware until someone tells them). You'll see that most of us on Sepia Saturda have switched it off as it can be off-putting to commenters. We nearly all have comment moderation and this works just fine.

Thanks for your comments. I like the corpulent lady too. My dad would have called her 'salt of the earth'.

As for the comment moderation, when I set up this blog in 2010, I chose word verification, because I prefer to have the comments show up immediately, rather than having to verify them. I'd prefer if we didn't have to bother with any sort of verification, but turning off both means major spam attacks.

hi Jennifer, a lovely and intriguing array of photos -how frustrating to not know who they all are. I think it's particularly frustrating to have photos where some pictured are families and the others unknown, because you feel if you could just unlock the key you might solve the problem. I suspect that the overlay image was possibly a developer's error - perhaps "he" accidentally overlaid two strips of negatives? I think your photos prove something else though -FANs- our albums include not only our family but friends, associates and neighbours. Good luck with the search. Pauleen

Thanks so very much for your comments. You've hit the nail on the head with the perfect acronym F.A.N.S. I'm sure you're right about the developer's error. In this digital age it's easy to forget that they once worked with strips of negatives. I've quite a few of those negatives too with lots of unknowns in them. Uh oh.

That is a fine collection of photographs from a time when family photography moved out of the studio and into real life. And this meant that we have backgrounds to explore, much more satisfying than those anonymous studio settings. Thoroughly enjoyable post, thanks.

The portly lady with Paddy's baby looks as if she is standing in front of WW2 air raid shelter somewhere in England in the 1940s or early fifties. That would make the baby about 65 or 70. Could Paddy be Grandfather Patrick Ball, or a son of his?

Thanks for your comments, and thanks for your guesses. The lady with the baby is in Ireland in the back garden of a house in Ringsend, Dublin. My family in Ireland recognize the backdrop, but not the lady. They date the photo to the 1940s. They believe she may be the mother of one of their neighbours and is possibly holding one of her own grandchildren. The note on the back of the photo is written in my mom's handwriting, so the Paddy referred to would not be her dad. The other Patrick in our family is my mother's elder brother Patrick who was stationed in India in this period.

Thank you for viewing today's post.

Leave a comment, if you feel so inclined; I really appreciate comments. Also, when you have a moment check out the blog archive or click on 'Older Posts' to have a look at topics from the past. I hope the sun is shining on your part of the world today. Cheers! Jennifer